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Monthly Archives: May 2015

Orange County DUI Checkpoints This Weekend (May 29, 2015)

Two DUI checkpoints have been announced this weekend, according to the Orange County Register and other sources. Orange County DUI Checkpoints This Weekend (May 29, 2015) are as follows:

A Newport BeachDUI checkpoint will take place, operated by the Newport Beach Police Department, on Friday, May 29th, from 8pm to 2:00 a.m., at a currently undisclosed location. Most previous checkpoints have been on Northbound Jamboree Road, near Santa Barbara Avenue.

Another DUI Checkpoint, in Orange, will take place on the same date (May 29th) near the Outlets of Orange (previously called The Block in Orange), on The City Drive, between the 22 offramp, and Lampson, from the hours of 9pm and 3:00 a.m.

WHY DOES LAW ENFORCEMENT HAVE ORANGE COUNTY DUI CHECKPOINTS?

DUI Checkpoints are even admitted by law enforcement to be less effective than other means of removing drunk drivers from the road. But, even though DUI checkpoints don’t work, police state they had a deterrent effect preventing people from driving in the first place. The truth is that funding in grants from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), MADD, and the Federal Government ensure DUI checkpoints are used first before other measures.

ARE DUI CHECKPOINTS LEGAL?

The US Supreme Court, as well as the law in California, makes DUI checkpoints legal, as long as they follow certain criteria, including:

Decision making by supervisors: This is important to ensure that checkpoints aren’t set up in “arbitrary and capricious” locations. The court didn’t say so, but we’re guessing they wanted to avoid any accusations of racial profiling.

Limits on discretion of field officers: The theme of distrust of the officer continues. Strict procedures and a random selection of drivers according to a preset pattern (every third driver, for example) are suggested to avoid abuse.

Maintenance of safety conditions: We’re not sure how it applies to constitutionality, but the court wanted lots of bright lights and signs.

Reasonable location: The location should be based on relevant factors, such as areas with high incidences of DUI or DUI accidents.

Time and duration: There are no hard and fast rules, but the timing should be set to optimize the effectiveness of the checkpoint. In other words, put ’em up when the drunks are out.

Indicia of official nature of roadblock: This is more babble about bright lights and warning signs. They do mention that the lights and signage should be visible for the sake of notification to the drivers. Drivers also can’t be pulled over for avoiding the checkpoint, unless they violate a law to do so.

Length and nature of detention: The time of the stop should be minimized as to infringe on a person’s rights as little as possible. That means peek at the eyes, smell for booze, and look for cans. If there are no signs of intoxication, the driver should be let go. If they look or smell drunk, field sobriety tests are appropriate.

Advance publicity: Ingersoll was in favor of advance publicity. It referred to the deterrent effect and stated that the notice minimizes intrusiveness to a person’s rights. In 1993, the court in People v. Banks stated that publicity was not a requirement, but it certainly helps.

Contact us now – Let’s Get Started.

Don’t delay contacting us. We can start you on a plan of action today that will help your court date later. The DMV needs action within 10 days of your arrest. Contact us today.

A proposed new law in California, Assembly Bill 1356, voted on this month in Sacramento, seeks to allow police officers to use a swab of saliva to detect drugs in a driver’s system, to catch persons that are “Driving Under the Influence of Drugs” (DUID).

AB 1356 has some doubters, however. DUI defense attorneys have voiced concerns over how the test results from the device may be viewed in terms of evidentiary value and the final determination of someone’s blood level of intoxication.

The author of the bill, Lackey, a former police officer, called those issues “premature,” and said he believes the science behind the technology is strong. But he also stressed that the device is only going to be used as a screening tool, so officers can make a more reasonable assessment of a person they’ve stopped.

California seeks new technology to detect those that are “DUID” and NORML is neutral.

California National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (Cal NORML), stands neutral on the bill. But Dale Gieringer, director of the nonprofit group, pointed out that while oral swabs are “roughly as sensitive” as blood tests for detecting use, there’s a lack of scientific data on the accuracy of the tests being proposed for use by cops in California.

NORMAL opposes the DUI Detection Bill

Gieringer told Government Technology that oral swab testing doesn’t measure actual impairment, but rather past use by a person. That could lead to motorists who are medical marijuana users coming up positive without actually being impaired.

Lackey hosted a demonstration of the DDS 2 device on April 20. A medical marijuana patient volunteered for the test and came up positive, at which point, Gieringer said Lackey noted the person would have likely been arrested for DUI had he or she previously been arrested for bad driving and taken a field sobriety test.

“We do not object to oral swab testing being used in such cases, so long as it’s understood they don’t constitute legal proof of impairment, just evidence of recent use,” Gieringer said. “We would strongly object if California police started administering oral swab tests at random road blocks or for minor nondriving-related offenses like expired plates or a busted tail light.” One problem with this bill is financing the cost. This technology, being relatively new, is not cheap, and there is no mechanism for funding it in the bill that is proposed.

Lackey wasn’t overly concerned with the issue, however. He said he was focused on getting the bill “accepted and authorized.” He added that federal grants and partnering with other agencies interested in traffic safety could be potential ways departments could come up with the money needed to get the technology in the hands of officers.

Contact us now – Let’s Get Started.

Don’t delay contacting us. We can start you on a plan of action today that will help your court date later. The DMV needs action within 10 days of your arrest. Contact us today.

Orange County DUI Checkpoints Memorial Day 2015 edition

Here’s the DUI checkpoint information for this weekend.

Laguna Beach, California is having a DUI/Drivers License Checkpoint set for Sunday, May 24th, from 8:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m., and roving DUI Saturation Patrols all over the city on Friday, May 22nd, from 9:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m..

The Santa Ana, California Police Department will be conducting a DUI/Drivers License checkpoint on Friday, May 22nd, 2015. It will begin at 9:00PM and is scheduled to conclude at 3:00AM. It will be conducted in the area of 1400 S. Bristol Street, Santa Ana, CA.

The Anaheim, California City Police will be conducting a Memorial Day weekend of anti-DUI enforcement, beginning with a checkpoint from 8 tonight through 3 a.m. Saturday. at Lincoln Avenue at Anaheim Boulevard, along with DUI Saturation Patrols throughout the weekend.

Also, tonight in Tustin, California, there will be a DUI checkpoint at an undisclosed location.

That’s the Orange County DUI Checkpoints Memorial Day 2015 edition summary, but more may be coming as Memorial Day weekend patrols and checkpoints are finalized. And of course, stay safe.

WHY DOES LAW ENFORCEMENT HAVE ORANGE COUNTY DUI CHECKPOINTS?

DUI Checkpoints are even admitted by law enforcement to be less effective than other means of removing drunk drivers from the road. But, even though DUI checkpoints don’t work, police state they had a deterrent effect preventing people from driving in the first place. The truth is that funding in grants from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), MADD, and the Federal Government ensure DUI checkpoints are used first before other measures.

ARE DUI CHECKPOINTS LEGAL?

The US Supreme Court, as well as the law in California, makes DUI checkpoints legal, as long as they follow certain criteria, including:

Decision making by supervisors: This is important to ensure that checkpoints aren’t set up in “arbitrary and capricious” locations. The court didn’t say so, but we’re guessing they wanted to avoid any accusations of racial profiling.

Limits on discretion of field officers: The theme of distrust of the officer continues. Strict procedures and a random selection of drivers according to a preset pattern (every third driver, for example) are suggested to avoid abuse.

Maintenance of safety conditions: We’re not sure how it applies to constitutionality, but the court wanted lots of bright lights and signs.

Reasonable location: The location should be based on relevant factors, such as areas with high incidences of DUI or DUI accidents.

Time and duration: There are no hard and fast rules, but the timing should be set to optimize the effectiveness of the checkpoint. In other words, put ’em up when the drunks are out.

Indicia of official nature of roadblock: This is more babble about bright lights and warning signs. They do mention that the lights and signage should be visible for the sake of notification to the drivers. Drivers also can’t be pulled over for avoiding the checkpoint, unless they violate a law to do so.

Length and nature of detention: The time of the stop should be minimized as to infringe on a person’s rights as little as possible. That means peek at the eyes, smell for booze, and look for cans. If there are no signs of intoxication, the driver should be let go. If they look or smell drunk, field sobriety tests are appropriate.

Advance publicity: Ingersoll was in favor of advance publicity. It referred to the deterrent effect and stated that the notice minimizes intrusiveness to a person’s rights. In 1993, the court in People v. Banks stated that publicity was not a requirement, but it certainly helps.

Contact us now – Let’s Get Started.

Don’t delay contacting us. We can start you on a plan of action today that will help your court date later. The DMV needs action within 10 days of your arrest. Contact us today.

First, the Newport Beach Police Department has a new YouTube music video, complete with on screen lyrics, to publicize their “Share the Road” campaign, and to remind you, as their slogan says, “Newport Beach Reminds Everyone to Share the Road. Keep the streets safe for everyone who lives, works, and plays in Newport Beach!” It looks to me that the video was filmed on Balboa Island.

Second, the Irvine Police Department wants you to know that they will be specially enforcing the national seat belt “Click It Or Ticket” campaign. Wearing your seatbelt is always a good idea, but you should be doubly sure to make sure you are following seat belt laws in Irvine. They will also “focus on nighttime enforcement”, according to their press release. Stopping those without a seatbelt at night is sure to lead to further investigation for possible persons that are DUI in Irvine.

Third, there is a “California AVOID Program” Special DUI Enforcement Period coming up, from May 22-27th of this year. Source website from the California OTS is here.

Be safe and avoid a DUI or a traffic collision during this unusually rainy weekend in the OC!

Contact us now – Let’s Get Started.

Don’t delay contacting us. We can start you on a plan of action today that will help your court date later. The DMV needs action within 10 days of your arrest. Contact us today.

Avvo.com is a well known legal rating service. Our firm is proud to announce that top rated Orange County DUI Lawyer Robert L. Miller has been ranked a perfect 10 out of 10 by their independent ranking service. With many five star reviews from clients, Avvo recognizes the law firm of Robert L. Miller & Associates’ commitment to professional quality services and excellent client service.

Avvo uses official records from the State Bar of California, and ratings from colleagues, speaking engagements, authored articles and books, and ratings from actual clients, in developing their ranking system.

Rating a perfect 10, as one among the top or best DUI Lawyers in Orange County, is an honor, and our firm is proud that Robert Miller, who has no record of discipline, has spoken on DUI issues at bar association events and at law schools, has co-authored two books for West Publishing Company (through Aspatore Press), has hundreds of accolades from opposing counsel, co-counsel, and other colleagues, and received positive reviews from many happy clients.

If you are looking for a highly rated Orange County DUI Lawyer, contact our firm through the contact the firm page, or call or email our law firm anytime.

Orange County DUI Checkpoints: Cinco de Mayo edition

Our Orange County DUI lawyers have learned from law enforcement about tonight’s DUI enforcement activities. The cities of Garden Grove, Tustin, Laguna Beach, and Newport Beach all have police officers assigned to heavy saturation patrols, from 6pm tonight to 3am tomorrow morning.

DUI Saturation Patrols involve having officers specially trained in DUI testing and detection patrol their respective cities, specifically looking for those persons that may be driving under the influence. Statistics show that, when measured by DUI arrests, that DUI saturation patrols are much, much more effective than DUI checkpoints, which generally have a very low arrest rate. For various political reasons, DUI checkpoints are heavily funded, and saturation patrols are not, which is why there are many more DUI checkpoints than patrols.

WHY DOES LAW ENFORCEMENT HAVE ORANGE COUNTY DUI CHECKPOINTS?

DUI Checkpoints are even admitted by law enforcement to be less effective than other means of removing drunk drivers from the road. But, even though DUI checkpoints don’t work, police state they had a deterrent effect preventing people from driving in the first place. The truth is that funding in grants from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), MADD, and the Federal Government ensure DUI checkpoints are used first before other measures.

ARE DUI CHECKPOINTS LEGAL?

The US Supreme Court, as well as the law in California, makes DUI checkpoints legal, as long as they follow certain criteria, including:

Decision making by supervisors: This is important to ensure that checkpoints aren’t set up in “arbitrary and capricious” locations. The court didn’t say so, but we’re guessing they wanted to avoid any accusations of racial profiling.

Limits on discretion of field officers: The theme of distrust of the officer continues. Strict procedures and a random selection of drivers according to a preset pattern (every third driver, for example) are suggested to avoid abuse.

Maintenance of safety conditions: We’re not sure how it applies to constitutionality, but the court wanted lots of bright lights and signs.

Reasonable location: The location should be based on relevant factors, such as areas with high incidences of DUI or DUI accidents.

Time and duration: There are no hard and fast rules, but the timing should be set to optimize the effectiveness of the checkpoint. In other words, put ’em up when the drunks are out.

Indicia of official nature of roadblock: This is more babble about bright lights and warning signs. They do mention that the lights and signage should be visible for the sake of notification to the drivers. Drivers also can’t be pulled over for avoiding the checkpoint, unless they violate a law to do so.

Length and nature of detention: The time of the stop should be minimized as to infringe on a person’s rights as little as possible. That means peek at the eyes, smell for booze, and look for cans. If there are no signs of intoxication, the driver should be let go. If they look or smell drunk, field sobriety tests are appropriate.

Advance publicity: Ingersoll was in favor of advance publicity. It referred to the deterrent effect and stated that the notice minimizes intrusiveness to a person’s rights. In 1993, the court in People v. Banks stated that publicity was not a requirement, but it certainly helps.

Contact us now if you have a DUI.

Don’t delay contacting us if you need help for a DUI. We can start you on a plan of action today that will help your court date later. The DMV needs action within 10 days of your arrest. Contact us today.

Police officers that handle DUI (Driving Under the Influence) cases are supposed to be trained according to NHTSA standards. NHTSA is the “National Highway Traffic Safety Administration“, and are responsible for safety on the nation’s roads. NHTSA has funded and helped conduct studies to validate various roadside testing, and have come up with the scientifically validated standardized field sobriety tests (the only ones that are validated by scientific studies), and have had law enforcement collect data in thousands of cases to see why people are most likely to be stopped, and what blood alcohol level, if any, that correlates with, over a large sample population. Why did the police pull me over for DUI? Usually, it’s for a NHTSA identified reason that has some connection to DUI.

Orange County Police Training for DUI.

Most of the Police Officers for local agencies, including the CHP, and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, were trained at the Orange County Sheriff’s Academy, or other academies outside of Orange County, and almost all that handle Orange County DUI were trained through the 30 hour Cavanaugh course, for law enforcement.

Data on Why Police Stop Drivers for DUI.

Why do the police pull someone over for DUI? Well, building upon several previous NHTSA studies, researchers collected data from police officers from across the United States and developed a list of more than 100 driving cues that have been found to predict blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) of 0.08 per- cent or greater. The list was reduced to 24 cues during 3 field studies involving hundreds of drivers, and more than 12,000 enforcement stops. The driving behaviors identified by the officers are presented in the following four broad categories:

Problems in maintaining proper lane position

Speed and braking problems

Vigilance problems

Judgment problems

The cues presented in these categories predict that a driver is likely to be DUI at least 35 percent of the time. For example, if a police officer observes a driver to be weaving across lane lines, the probability of that driver being DUI is more than .50, or 50 %.

However, if that officer observes either of the weaving cues and any other cue of those that are identified, the probability of that driver being DUI jumps to at least .65, or 65 %. Observing any two cues other than weaving indicates a probability of the person being DUI of at least 50 percent.

Some cues, such as swerving, accelerating for no reason, and driving on other than the designated roadway, have single-cue probabilities greater than 70 %. Generally, the probability of DUI increases substantially when a driver exhibits more than one of the cues. More cues means correlation between the cues, and a greater probability that the suspicion of intoxication is correct.

Violations with a High Correlation to DUI

Out of the 24 cues listed above, the one that had the strongest correlation to DUI was driving without headlights on. That is listed in the categories above as “related to vigilance problems”, which include all of the following, as well as driving without headlights at night:

Failure to signal a turn or lane change or signaling inconsistently with actions

Driving in opposing lanes or the wrong way on a one-way street

Slow response to traffic signals

Slow or failure to respond to officer’s signals

Stopping in the lane for no apparent reason

As a result, if you are stopped for driving without headlights, that seems to be an even greater indicator of you being potentially DUI than weaving, or swerving.

Speeding is Not Correlated with Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol.

Miller and Associates Press and Media Articles

Attorney Robert Miller is often called upon to comment, or be interviewed, by the media, related to DUI defense, trial law, or criminal law matters, as the Miller and Associates Press and Media Articles on our page show.

Techyville.com, “Prison Inmates Take to the Internet To Review Their Experience”, http://www.techyville.com/2013/05/news/prison-inmates-take-to-the-internet-to-review-their-experience/(unfortunately, the link is no longer active), 2013.

The Colbert Report also noted the article about Yelp and reviews, as you can see in the clip above.

Our Attorney Robert Miller has also long been an avid believer in Web 2.0: harnessing the power of internet users to collect and share information, for the benefit of all, including real time reviews on how businesses and governmental entities are doing. He was a Yelp Gold Elite for over seven years and has written more than 100 reviews per year on average.

Many of the Miller and Associates Press and Media Articles above were spurred by one article about our law firm that appeared in the Washington Post. The Washington Post featured Miller’s review of some of the Orange County Jails, where he has often visited with persons after Orange County DUI arrests and has written reviews regarding the procedures, the facilities, employees, and the ease of getting in and out of jails to interview people.

Using Yelp to review jails has a comical aspect to it, and people assume that prisoners are giving 1 & 1/2 star reviews to the cafeteria food and facilities. As a result, the news media went crazy with the story. Aside from the stories below, from the Daily Mail, the ABA Journal, the International Business Times, and the GovTech website, all of which quoted “Criminal Defense Lawyer Robert Miller“, there were hundreds of other mentions on television, radio, and publications of all types. Robert was also interviewed on the radio Via the BBC World Service, by NPR, and had been previously featured on television in a television broadcast filmed at the Orange County Superior Court. That clip appeared on the ABC News local affiliate, KABC Los Angeles.

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